Inquiry to examine grooming-gang offending in Birmingham and Wales
A national independent inquiry into grooming gangs will investigate offending in Birmingham and across Wales, alongside wider examinations of child sexual exploitation and official responses. Chaired by former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield, it will have powers to compel evidence and will hear from survivors through a national listening project.
Birmingham and Wales will be examined as part of an independent national inquiry into grooming gangs and the sexual exploitation of children, the inquiry announced on Wednesday. The investigation will be chaired by former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield. It will have powers to compel witnesses and obtain documents while examining what individuals and agencies did, or failed to do, to protect children.
The Welsh investigation will cover offending across the country rather than focusing on a single town or city. It will examine safeguarding, the response of multiple agencies, devolved arrangements and cooperation between organisations in Wales and England. The Birmingham investigation will initially focus on the city but could expand to connected or surrounding areas if evidence supports that step.
The inquiry said grooming gangs had operated extensively in Birmingham, where police documents uncovered in 2010 indicated that children at schools and care homes were being targeted. The inquiry will examine the roles of police, the NHS and local and central government. It will also consider the influence of ethnicity, religion and culture in group-based exploitation, as well as changing methods of offending and the possible role of technology.
The announcement follows political pressure for a statutory national inquiry after the government initially declined to fund an investigation into abuse in Oldham. It later agreed to proceed after an audit by crossbench peer Louise Casey. The inquiry has already announced dedicated investigations focused on Oldham, London, Bradford and Keighley.
It will also assess whether authorities in places including Telford, Rochdale, Oxford and Rotherham acted on recommendations from earlier inquiries. Anne Longfield said survivors in Wales had waited too long for answers. The inquiry will run alongside a National Crime Agency investigation, Operation Beaconport, and operate a listening project for victims and their families.
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